Here is part 2 of our 2019 round up. Before I get started, lets recap on the first part:
- Sold our house
- Moved in to our motorhome
- Moved in to another Motorhome
- Finally hit the road
- Came back again
In all seriousness, it was more exciting than I make it sound! A mixture of hard work and taking up great opportunities enabled us to do this and we couldn’t be happier but we are also honest. This is still the best thing we ever did but by no means is it driving off in to the sunset and having trouble free days. It is still life and that will always come with its ups and downs but you definitely get out what you put in. We have had some of the best times this year and met amazing people. As I write this second half, I realise just how action packed it was.
July
After having the Adria serviced, we thought about where to go next. We both came up with the same place instantly, Wales! We just couldn’t shake the Welsh bug and South Wales is only a few hours drive from Hampshire. Little did we know just how much time we would end up spending in Wales.
Whilst we were back in Hampshire, a cyst that Jon had became aggravated. We tried to get it sorted but kept getting told it ‘wasn’t ready’. We carried on to Wales and it was manageable but it was causing Jon some discomfort, especially as it sat next to his spine. We already had plans to visit my Aunt and Uncle, based in Pembrokeshire, on our travels and by the time we got there, it was almost unbearable for him so he visited the local A & E. They were amazing and operated that day to remove it. We were relieved but it did now mean Jon had to have his wound cleaned and repacked regularly for the foreseeable future.
We were effectively stuck there but believe us, there are far worse places to have to stop! My Aunt and Uncle were so accommodating, allowing us to stay until the initial healing phase was over. They gave us all sort of great tips on places to go and in between visits to the GP, we would go off and explore the beautiful West Coast and surrounding area.
August
The beauty of not having solid plans was really coming in to its own. We had no where to be in a rush and could take our time here, Haverfordwest became almost like a second home. Jon’s back was healing well and we were absolutely loving our time in West Wales but there was one pre-arranged break coming up for me. Before the house had even had an offer, I booked up a short break to Benidorm with a good friend of mine. I didn’t know if the house was even going to get more viewings at that time let alone an offer so Jon and I discussed it and agreed I should go on the break. I hired a car and drove back to Hampshire, leaving Jon in the motorhome back in Wales.
Jon didn’t want to go back ‘home’ as it would mean him hanging around whilst I was away and I didn’t want that for him either. I also had a couple of other things planned for around the same time; one of which was getting to play the popular Victorious Festival in Portsmouth with my African drumming group.
So we ended up spending 2 weeks apart which at first was weird after spending 24/7 together but I think we both also enjoyed the break. I got to catch up with my friends and my Mum and Jon got some peace and quiet. He is perfectly happy in his own company, just him and the cats is his idea of a good night in.
Benidorm was absolutely amazing. My friend and I haven’t been there since we were 19 and quite frankly, it hasn’t changed! We had the best time, along with her son, chilling out by the pool, sunbathing and eating lots of food.
September
We worked out costs and logistics and in the end, Jon came to pick me up. We were so excited to see each other and reunited once again, we set off to Wells in Somerset. Our only specific destination at that point was North Wales because we were determined to finish exploring the beautiful country. We wanted to go up through England though to see something different, rather than going back through South Wales. We really enjoyed seeing snippets of England that we hadn’t seen before but it didn’t distract us from our goal. We made it to Capel Curig from Worcestershire in one afternoon and even met a friend there face to face for the first time. A lovely lady we had been chatting to online for a while, she is actually from the Dorset area but was on holiday in North Wales. She also lives in her van with her beautiful cat, Queen Rainy.
We spent the rest of the month mooching around North Wales, including paying a visit to my neighbour from when I was younger, who now lives in Oswestry. It was just amazing to see her and her beautiful home and is another of the things we love about our travels, it has enabled us to go and see people we haven’t seen for ages and even better we always have our own accommodation!
We were also paid a visit by the lovely Luke and Franc to be filmed for a promo video for Dethleffs and Erwin Hymer Group. What better backdrop than the slate mountains of Blaenau Ffestiniog.
From there, we ended up shooting all the way over to Stevenage to meet up with some fellow van lifers. We had reached out to Darran (the one and only Urban Motorhome!), who we’d been following online, to see if he was going to the upcoming show at the NEC so we could meet and say hi. He wasn’t but he did invite us to a meet up and we are so glad we made the journey! It was our first van meet and it was amazing, lovely people all gathering to chill, chat and eat lush food! We met so many awesome people including The Gadgets, Mevi, Ash AKA Lost in Europe, Lord Greg Virgoe among others. It was awesome.
October
Sadly, illness struck again but this time it was me! I have had digestive issues since I was in my teens and, along with my anxiety, they had been so much better since we started travelling. For some reason though I was having quite bad flare ups and as we were now only a couple of hours from ‘home’, I ended up going back to seek medical attention (we had swapped the motorbike for a small car when we were back last time). Jon carried on to Wales (we had a family party) and so we were apart again for a few days. Jon had a whale of a time, staying in all sorts of lovely looking places including Devil’s Bridge. We were reunited once again in time for the party in Pembrokeshire and then after that, it was straight off to Stratford-Upon-Avon for another meet.
This time it was Greg and Lou’s leaving meet up, organised just a week before and as we were going to Birmingham a few days later, we couldn’t resist the opportunity to go and see everyone and go to another meet up! Plus i had never been to Stratford-Upon-Avon. Even though we were only there for the final evening, we had a brilliant time. Seeing the guys again plus meeting more new lovely people was fun and we definitely felt like we had made friends in the group.
From there we made the short trip to Birmingham to attend the annual Motorhome and Caravan show at the NEC. We usually visit the show and had originally planned to attend for a couple of days, however, we were given the opportunity to attend all week. We had a fantastic time, we still enjoy looking around the latest models and seeing what is new in the industry. We were also in the market for some accessories and upgrades for our own motorhome.
Our favourite part of the week though was the people we met. We got to talk to so many people we have either been following online or who we have been interacting with. It was lush to put real faces to online names.
November
After a fab, but busy, couple of months, November was a bit quieter. We kicked the month off in Wiltshire, visiting our first ever Caravan & Motorhome Club Site at Longleat. Whilst we were there, fellow vloggers/bloggers Here We Tow were also staying at the same time along with Adventure Wheels and the lovely Gary & Anne. We ended up spending a great couple of days with them all.
From there, we discovered a whole host of amazing National Trust properties to see and got to visit beautiful, historic Frome. We danced around the Wiltshire/Somerset area for a bit before ending up back in Hampshire for me to visit the doctors again. Frustrating as it was, it needed to be done plus I got to have a day out with my Mum. After our brief visit, we set off for Doncaster at the end of the month. There was anther meet up, this time hosted by Bug Out Vehicles UK. It was an open invitation and so the worlds of Bug Out and Vanlife came together and what a bloody good weekend it was.
Being Southerners, we had to wear our big coats
We got to meet up with our friends again and meet more people from the community plus we really enjoyed meeting lovely people from a different group who have similar interests. Side note, one of the guys cooked up the BEST pork scratchings we have ever tasted and Jon is a very particular about pork scratchings. The vehicles were cool too, Land Rovers and Land Cruisers set up for proper off grid adventures. Even better, most of them had winches fitted so we could be towed on and off of the field. That was our first taste of a northern winter as well so being southerners, we needed to wear our big coats.
December
We had always planned to go home for Christmas as we wanted to spend it with our Parents and loved ones. Of course originally, we thought it would have been the first time we would be seeing them since we went travelling but we stuck to the plan as we had a few chores to do while we were back. We needed to start preparations for moving back in to the Sonic as we realised we only had 3 months left in the Pulse!
From Doncaster we decided to head back to Hampshire via the East Coast, I have never been and Jon hasn’t been for many years. Jon’s Grandparents on his Mum’s side used to live in Norfolk and his Parents and Grandparents on his Dad’s side used to live in Ipswich so as we made our way down, Jon was reliving fond memories. He was also reliving some not so fond memories of moving his parents from Hampshire to Ipswich and back again. Twice. Apparently they moved to Ipswich but didn’t like the house, moved back but then moved back up only for Jon’s Mum to want to move back to Hampshire when she began to lose her sight.
We loved it and we got to meet up with more new friends on our way, the Lovely Aaron and Vicky, otherwise known as Motorhome ChitChat. We only met them for the afternoon but we could have chatted to them all day! We also stopped off at Jon’s friends for a couple of nights which was so lovely, we haven’t seen them since the summer and before that it had been a couple of years.
Getting to see some of the historic South East was awesome as well, almost like pieces of the historic puzzle were coming together. Thinking back to when we toured Wales and learnt about the history and how it ties in with some of the most famous and important English history, we couldn’t get enough of it.
We had a quiet Christmas but a busy two weeks at home, organising our Sonic to go to a repair and fitment centre for upgrades (which we are super excited about) plus more follow up visits for me to the Doctors. We didn’t even get to catch up with everybody we wanted before we set off for the Midlands the day after Boxing Day. We were on our way to meet our friends Kat & Jay to help celebrate Jay’s birthday (on the Great Central Railway!) and from there we were off to meet more new friends for New Years. We had been chatting to Sam & Claire (otherwise known as Next Stop Everywhere!) for months so to finally meet them was awesome. We saw in the New Year and ended up spending the first few days of January with them.
That sums up the second half of our 2019! It was certainly exciting and came with a few challenges and learning curves. We have sometimes thought, should we have planned our year more to get the most our of it? We didn’t end up going to some of the places we wanted to (Scotland!) and we didn’t exactly follow a very efficient route (we didn’t follow any route at all to be fair) and that did have an impact on our budget. But then we realised a few things. Firstly, if we had planned a specific route and even pre booked things, we wouldn’t have been able to have adapted when things like Jon’s back or my Digestive issues flared up. Or when the Pulse had to be repaired before we set off and we ended up in Hampshire for weeks, that would have been much more difficult if we had things booked in.
Secondly, we could have missed out on getting to meet people, like minded individuals who share our passion for van living and travel. People who want to take a step out of the norm and live life. The likely hood is we might have met some of them on the road but being able to say yes to going to meet them and then having that time to chat and get to know each other is actually a luxury in the modern day world, one that we’re grateful for.
Thirdly, we felt like we saw so much more by not planning where we were going to go. Apart from the obvious places and landmarks, how do you know what is truly in a place until you go there and look for yourself? We found a new appreciation for the little things so going to a tiny village and getting to have tea in their local cafe thats been established for years or strolling through historic woodland became just as enriching to us as going sightseeing in the more publicised places. In fact we preferred it, usually we go where the crowds of people aren’t.
Lastly, we realised we need to give ourselves a break! That level of expectation of ‘must go here, must visit this many places’ is exactly what we were trying to break away from. You have similar expectations on you in everyday life ‘must get a better job, must earn more, must get a newer car’ and this time out was as much to take a break for ourselves and do exactly what we wanted as it was to travel and see new places. Besides, I think we both knew deep down that this would be for longer than 12 months, we just didn’t want to commit to that as we didn’t have a plan to sustain it. That is what we’re working on now, looking at ways to be able to continue our travels and live the life we want for as long as we can!